OLD GRANDSTAND AT THE POLO GROUNDS, NEW YORK
CHAPTER XXXV.
FOR more than ten recent years each Base Ball season has seemed to be a climax of prosperity, only to find the succeeding season further advanced in every way than its predecessors.
I do not limit or attempt to define the qualification of prosperity and success by any material advantage which may have happened to each individual club of the major league circuits. Superficial observers of Base Ball conditions are too prone to believe that the general conditions affecting the national game are contingent upon the attendance in the greater cities.
It is true that prosperity in the cities means a certain amount of Base Ball interest in all the territory which is within the metropolitan influence, but it is also true that there has been a very wonderful and general growth of interest in sections which are remote from the major league circuits, and which are dependent for their professional Base Ball upon the so-called minor league organizations.
If we look for a specific date from which to measure the revival of conditions from the chaotic period which followed the organization and death of the Brotherhood of Base Ball Players, in 1890, and the elimination of "Freedmanism," in 1902, we may accept the reorganization of the New York National League Base Ball Club as the beginning of the professional rehabilitation of the national sport.
Following closely upon that was the settlement of all disputes between Base Ball organizations and the signing of a new National Agreement, which provided for the sanest court of executive administration in the history of the sport—the National Commission—all of which tended to place Base Ball on a basis which commanded the admiration of the patrons and gave permanent assurance to promoters of the stability of their occupation.
As the seasons followed in natural sequence, that of 1910, through the cumulative effect of all the good which had been accomplished, surpassed all others in the broader interest which was taken in the pastime, the superiority of attractions from the purely professional standpoint, and the wider-reaching and firmer hold which Base Ball had attained upon the masses by reason of competent and able management at its fountain-head—that being carefully adjusted and well balanced organization with a fair deal for all.
The major leagues succeeded so handsomely throughout the year that at the finish of the season all of their clubs, with perhaps two exceptions, had balances to their credit ranging from small amounts to handsome sums. The exceptions, if they were losers, lost so little that they were not distressed financially, and in view of embarrassments under which they had been compelled to labor, owing to the vicissitudes of the sport from a professional standpoint, were cheerful and optimistic as to the future.
Forty-nine organized leagues completed their season and were awarded championships in 1910. Probably about sixty leagues, working under direct rules and following the system which governs the parent major leagues, endeavored to make progress through the year, but some of them weakened through causes which experience teaches to avoid and were unable to last to the final games' scheduled for their circuits.
In addition to these leagues, we must not omit in summing up general Base Ball conditions the great number of municipal and what are known as semi-professional leagues which were in existence from one ocean to the other.
How many of these are to be found in the States of the Union is without the pale of known data. In some cities there are as many as fifty such leagues. In others there are half a score. In general, it would not be far amiss to say that there probably are not less than 5,000 scattered throughout the cities. This may appear to be a high estimate, but when the radius of the national game is taken into consideration, and when the actual number of contests played on a certain day amount to more than 200, as was indicated in one Eastern newspaper alone, it would seem that the local leagues are a far greater factor in the national sport than many imagined.
Add to these the college and school games, which are also sufficiently well organized to become fixtures, and one can begin to conceive of the expansion of the national game, although still be far from anything like actual possession of the facts. There are 10,000 games played every day of which the public hears nothing; perhaps double that number.
So much for the activity of players on the diamond.
Principal causes for the growth in interest of the pastime have previously been stated. There is a great contributory cause which must not be neglected when undertaking to make a review of the progressive strides of the sport.
I refer to the erection in the larger major and minor league cities of permanent and substantial structures to house our national pastime.
When Base Ball first became established as a public sport, which requested public attention for its share, the conditions were so precarious that most of the Base Ball promoters felt that wooden stands, arranged with tiers of seats for the accommodation of patrons, were all that they could afford.
The earliest stands were small affairs compared with those which were erected along in the nineties. At various times the structures that were in use at Base Ball parks burned to the ground by reason of fires which started through accident.
As the stability of Base Ball became more assured, owners decided to branch out and erect fireproof buildings on their grounds. First of these stands was the concrete and steel affair which was built at Cincinnati by John T. Brush. In the course of time Mr. Brush became owner of the New York Base Ball Club.
When the huge, wooden stadium burned at the Polo Grounds, in the spring of 1911, Base Ball men sat aghast, because it meant much to the national pastime to lose the home of the most important National League club in the largest city of the United States.
There was some doubt as to whether Base Ball would be continued on the historic field, because of the possibility of a short lease, but Mrs. Harriet G. Coogan, owner of the Polo Grounds, through her husband. Col. J. J. Coogan, assured Mr. Brush that the lease would be extended as long as the life of the National League.
In effect, this means a permanent home for Base Ball in the city of New York. The moment that the lease was effected Mr. Brush announced that he would rebuild on the Polo Grounds and would erect a concrete and steel stadium, modeled after the style of the stand which was burned, but which would accommodate 50,000 spectators and would not have a stick of timber in it.
The estimated cost of this structure will be $100,000, but it is quite well assured that before the new stadium is completed it will cost more than that sum. However, it will be a lasting monument to Base Ball in the City of New York and something of which the city will be proud. Shaped like a horseshoe, supplied with hundreds of comfortable boxes and seats, with no stairways, but easy ascents from all parts of the structure to another, it will be more like the fitting of an outdoor opera house than a ball park, showing that Base Ball promoters have progressed as well as the game.
Philadelphia has two fine plants, one of them fireproof and the other nearly so. Chicago has one of the most magnificent outdoor grounds in the United States, equipped by Charles Comiskey, of the Chicago American League Club. Pittsburg has erected a stand which is a model, and Cleveland is the fortunate possessor of an up-to-date outdoor park which probably will stand as long as there is Base Ball. Every foot of the structure on this modern edifice is concrete or steel.
Washington has a new concrete and steel stand and the Boston American League club shortly is to have one. St. Louis owners contemplate building and will put in concrete and steel whenever they improve their parks. The Chicago National League club contemplates a new structure that may eclipse them all. So, everywhere, there is a tendency to add to the solidity and the permanency of the sport, which assures more comfort for patrons.
Nor is the lavish expenditure for better accommodations for Base Ball patrons confined to the larger cities of the major league circuits. Indianapolis and Toledo, of the American Association, have new and expensive plants.
Newark and Baltimore, in the Eastern League, have recently rebuilt their grounds, while Toronto, in the same circuit, possesses a new, fireproof stand.
Atlanta, in the Southern League, has an equipment far better than most major league clubs could boast ten years ago, and at Birmingham, Ala., the owners of the Base Ball club have a new concrete and steel structure which is a gem. It well belongs to the "Gem City of the South."
In connection with the subject of new stands for the convenience of patrons, it may also be added that most Base Ball concerns are finding it advantageous to purchase the property on which their parks are located. As in most cases this necessitates buying real estate of much value, the fact that such holdings become permanent for the purposes of outdoor recreation is confirmatory of the stability of the national game after its years of evolution.
In the major leagues both of the St. Louis grounds, both of the Chicago parks, that at Detroit, the one at Cincinnati, the field at Cleveland, Pittsburg's new park, the Washington ground, both of the Philadelphia grounds, the Boston National League ground, a new field to be provided for the accommodation of the New York American League club, and the Polo Grounds in New York, since the recent agreement between its owner and the owner of the New York National League Base Ball Club, are permanent.
The field in Brooklyn is leased, as is that of the Boston American League club, but it is said that the Boston American League club has purchased a plot of real estate in that city on which a structure will be built for the national game corresponding in all its details to the best that have been built elsewhere.
The value of this real estate is rather hard to conjecture, for it is located in varying sections of different cities. Presumably it would be out of the question to estimate the property which is used by the New York club at less than $300,000. It comprises two city blocks and might bring that amount at forced sale. As this is probably the most valuable plot in the major league circuits, the other fifteen clubs may be accepted as playing on real estate which is worth anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. Some of it may be less valuable than $50,000, but, as population increases and the cities expand, it is noticeable that Base Ball values enhance as well as everything else.
The estimated attendance at the National League games in 1910 was 3,705,574. That at the American League games was 3,550,951. The total for both leagues was 7,256,665. Very likely there was not so large a paid attendance as the above figures would indicate, because where the attendance is made public by the authority of some of the club owners they are accustomed to give the paid attendance and the free attendance conjointly.
More spectators attend Base Ball games on passes than many imagine. It is a rather sad commentary on our municipal politics that history is filled with incidents where those in temporary authority have seemed to be impressed with the idea that Base Ball promoters were operating clubs for their benefit and for that of their friends. Were the names of those on the free lists in some of the large cities to be published, perhaps even the hardened conscience of the American voter might be shocked.
If we go on the basis of 6,000,000 paid admissions to major league games, which is a liberal estimate, and figure that the average admission was thirty-three and one-third cents per spectator, which is also fair, we find that the gate receipts of the major leagues in 1910 were about $2,000,000.
Of that sum, less than a quarter of a million was returned directly to the promoters for their interest in their investment. True, some of them made large profit, which was offset by very small profit on the part of others, and perhaps a trifling loss on the part of one or two.
So that in the same breath in which we can point to the great strides which the game has made, to its popularity, to its signs of assured permanency, we can also say that it is not a pastime which robs the public in any way, for the bulk of its income is turned directly back into circulation through salaries to players, expenses for travel, and the hundred and one incidentals which are a part of any great amusement enterprise.
It is by no means a selfish game, operated for purely mercenary motives. If that were the case, there is more than one man who has been prominent in Base Ball and who is still prominent in Base Ball councils who would have given up his share of the burden of maintenance long ago.
Indeed, we may go further and state that it is only within recent years that there has been anything like reasonable financial return to the investors. There are many men who have expended thousands of dollars on the national pastime who never realized a penny of income from it in their lives.
Until there was a new National Agreement, which gave the sport stability, the life of the minor league club owner was one of annoyance and hazard.
The coming of the new National Agreement was the dawn of an era of prosperity in the minor league circuits which has enabled owners to venture upon $50,000 and $100,000 plants for their patrons.
Without the National Agreement, there was no minor league owner who was sanguine that he would hold his players over night. Confident now in the stability of his organization, and able to realize something for his team by development of his resources, the minor league owner is willing to risk.
Becoming thus enterprising, he provides better Base Ball for his patrons, and the result is that the attendance has steadily increased in every minor league circuit in the United States, with perhaps a half dozen exceptions, for the last five years.
Roughly estimating, probably 10,000,000 spectators see the games in the ten largest minor league circuits of the country. That is a very conservative estimate and is established more on the paid spectators than on the actual total attendance.
At other minor league games there may be another 10,000,000 during the season. Suppose that we credit the minor organizations in general with 20,000,000 for the year. Even if a little too large it will not be too large in another year or two, and the figures are conservative enough for immediate data.
The minor and the major leagues together, therefore, would have an estimated attendance of 26,000,000 for the season. Until one realizes that 26,000,000 are six times the population of New York City, one scarcely begins to comprehend what Base Ball attendance amounts to in the course of a season.
This is not all. No consideration has been given the college games as yet or the various public school games, the games of the amateur leagues and the games of the semi-professionals.
Yale and Princeton and Yale and Harvard draw crowds of 10,000 to 20,000 when they play. One public school boy game in New York attracted 20,000 spectators. Frequently these school boy games, given under the auspices of the Public Schools Athletic League, are attended by 10,000 spectators.
More than all else, who in the world is to be able to make any reasonable kind of estimate of the attendance at games when Smithtown plays Rockville and Rockville plays Jones' Falls?
At some of those contests there are from 2,000 to 3,000 spectators, and when it is probable that on Saturday, which is a sort of half holiday everywhere, there are at least 20,000 of those contests being played in the States of the Union, we begin to feel like holding up our hands in dismay and affirming that it is almost out of the question to express the growth of Base Ball and its present status except by the million mark. And millions denote it more accurately than thousands.
The future of Base Ball, to be judged by its immediate present, is practically limitless, for, in spite of the fact that its development is broader, sounder and better at present than it ever has been, there are manifold indications that it will thrive and not starve so long as the present admirable system of organization is maintained.
Without organization it loses at once its foundation, and experience has proved that so repeatedly that the man who trifles with the present system of adjusting grievances and operating on a basis of mutuality will be a Benedict Arnold to his fellow associates.
Thirty years ago the greatest drawback to Base Ball, then coming into its own, was the lack of communication between the smaller cities. Many a time I have known a team of young ball players to take a tramp of four or five miles to play with the team in a neighboring town and walk all the way home after the game was over. The interest in the sport was there. That same honest, high-spirited interest which exists at the present time, but the facilities were lacking in those days.
While we are speaking about the development of Base Ball, it might not be out of place to say that what the boys lacked thirty years ago the boys of to-day have at their doors.
Reference is made to the electric railroads which traverse the country from one ocean to the other. Nowadays it is almost invariably the case that the county seat is connected with all of the important towns of the county by electric railroad, and very frequently a chain of these railroads connects the smaller cities, so that it is only a matter of an hour's ride before a visiting team can be transported from its own town to that in which it is to play.
These "short hauls," as I believe the railroad men call them, have done a tremendous good for pure amateur Base Ball, and for Base Ball between the smaller city leagues which are not quite large enough to enter regularly into professional Base Ball.
One hears a great deal about the "Trolley Leagues" in these days and that is exactly what these organizations are—leagues dependent upon the trolley railroad for transportation. These organizations are composed of the sterling young ball players of the United States, and if the satiated enthusiast of the city becomes a little too well satisfied with the well doing of his favorite professional club, he need only to visit one of these "trolley league" games to find Base Ball in all of the glory by which he remembers it when he sat on the grass and cheered for the home team.
By contrast with other countries, the United States within five years has taken long strides ahead of England and France in the matter of stable and safe structures for an outdoor sport.
It is true that in London, and perhaps in Paris and Berlin, greater generosity has been shown to the citizens in leaving untouched certain fields for those who are fond of games which are popular in those cities, but in the matter of stands to accommodate patrons there is nothing which can equal such Base Ball palaces as have been built in Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburg and other cities, to say nothing of the improvement contemplated for New York, where both the American and the National Leagues will build on a grander scale than is in existence throughout the world of sport.
When conditions are sane and settled among the organizers of Base Ball there is no trouble to locate prosperity. It appears at the door and begs to enter.
Nothing can better illustrate this than to compare the finish of the season of 1910, the best in the history of the national pastime, with that of the finish of 1890, the worst.
Base Ball values are to-day quoted at one hundred cents on the dollar, to use a phrase which is popular with the men in financial circles.
At the end of 1890, a season of war and strife between players and owners, Base Ball values had been whittled down to less than ten cents on the dollar.
There were some who had lost their all and who had been forced out of the game. Strife did it. Strife will invariably mar the success of any sport and, unless it is possessed of the vitality and intrinsic merit of Base Ball, ultimately will kill it.
Estimating the growth of Base Ball upon the basis which has been in evidence for the last five years, it is within reason to predict that the year 1920 will see 10,000,000 paid admissions at the contests of the major leagues.
The million mark expands the further one analyzes the steady growth of the sport, and looks forward to a future which may be blessed with safe conduct under a sane National Agreement and with level-headed men to conduct the administration.